Ottawa home sales up 3.9% in August

Ottawa’s hot residential real estate market showed signs of stabilizing, despite local realtors setting a new record for August home sales last month.

The Ottawa Real Estate Board said Wednesday its members sold 1,538 homes last month, an increase of 3.9 per cent over August 2016. That’s the second-lowest year-over-year increase in 2017 and follows a 2.7 per cent increase in July.

In contrast, sales were up 28 per cent in March and 20 per cent in May.

“While realtors have reported fewer multiple offer situations in the past month, we are seeing sellers receive asking price or very close to it,” said OREB president Rick Eisert in a statement.

Other metrics, however, suggest the local real estate market still has plenty of steam left. Properties are spending fewer and fewer days up for sale, while the average sale price in August was up 7.8 per cent year-over-year to $420,335.